Four TikTok comedy stars try their hand at stand up comedy this year at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, hosted by Coco Sarel and stars Steven Mckell, Ayamé Ponder and Henry Rowley. With a collective following of over seven million fans, it’s safe to say tickets will fly, regardless of show content. Knock, Knock has already had back to back sell out shows within two days of opening.
A feel good, switch-your-brain-off kind of show
As the host, Sarel was energetic, warm and had a smile on her face at all times. For a self described newbie to comedic crowd work, she did a good job, always keeping the audience involved and even having a few laughs herself. Sarel’s set is based around relatable comedy, although at some points I did feel the jokes were more relatable than funny – however through this you get a sense of familiarity as she bares her personality. She hosted with such confidence and charisma that at one point in the show she was able to encourage and ease the crowd to a point of singing in unison.
Another star of Knock, Knock, Steven Mckell (one of Scotland’s own), is as camp as he is animated; sharing oodles of personality with the facial expressions to go along with it. Mckell is a brilliant mix of self deprecating and self bolstering at the same time.
He jokes about his father’s schizophrenia and his own weight, yet he still manages to end on a positive, confident note. Mckell delivers his set with boundless sass and a few high kicks!
Ayamé Ponder has a tongue in cheek persona of a ‘TikTok star’ – joking about her fame and ‘it girl’ status, Ponder comes off as confident and witty, her set lively and sprinkled with a few phallic gags. As much as I enjoyed her candour, some didn’t land and I felt her material could’ve been padded out further. However, there’s room to improve as their show runs for the rest of the Fringe.
Finally, Henry Rowley, the final comic of the evening, was a stand out. He seemed the most comfortable doing stand up and he delivered stories with great physical movement which painted the picture for the audience. Rowley included his well-known impressions of the middle class characters which he created on TikTok, the way he utilised this in his set didn’t feel gimmicky at all. Rowley’s set was akin to a classic stand up set which, for me, made him the funniest of the evening.
Knock, Knock is a feel good, switch-your-brain-off kind of show, I found it to be charming and entertaining; however some of the jokes didn’t translate from online to stage. If you’re looking for a more traditional style stand up show, Knock, Knock isn’t the one for you, but if you want to see your favourite TikToker tell some jokes for 20 minutes or so, I say go for it!
